Featured Image Credit: PDC Darts
Topics: Luke Littler, Darts, Luke Humphries
Jack Kenmare
Luke Littler was on the verge of getting 'brushed' in a leg before he pulled out the classic imaginary circle trick during Sunday's World Grand Prix final against Luke Humphries.
'The Nuke' made a great start to proceedings at Leicester's Mattioli Arena as he took an early 1-0 lead against world number one Humphries.
But in the second leg, Littler failed to find a double after 12 attempts, with the Grand Prix's double-in double-out format causing the teenager all sorts of problems as his opponent dominated.
In fact, Humphries needed just 16 to record his first leg of the game, while Littler remained on 501.
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Thankfully for the 18-year-old, he managed to hit double 16 on his 13th attempt, just moments after he drew an imaginary circle around the board with his finger before making a hilarious face. Check out the moment below.
Ahead of the tournament, Littler admitted he wasn't keen on the Grand Prix's 'double-in double-out' format.
“Obviously it’s the next big one for me. But I’ll be honest, I didn’t like it last time," he said, as per The Sun. "I didn’t like the double start. It’s one of the toughest tournaments to win.
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“There is the World Championship, the Matchplay, the Premier League. But the double start – if you don’t get off, then you’re in trouble. I can’t say I really practice the double start often but obviously leading up to it, I think I’ll have to – just to get used to it."
He added: “Every year we’ll see someone hit a treble 20 first out and then they forget. It’ll be tough. But we’ve still got plenty of darts to play this year.”
After recoding a 5-1 victory over Jonny Clayton in the semi-final, Littler was pitted against Humphries, who reached his third consecutive Grand Prix final following a 5-3 win over Danny Noppert.
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Speaking ahead of Sunday's final, Littler said: "I definitely owe Luke one for the Premier League, but Luke has a very good record here. He's lost one and he's won one himself, but for myself it's all new."
Littler continued: "We can beat each other in a major final. We've both beaten each other in them, but it's very different with a double start. Whoever gets off first tomorrow, wins.
"It [final with Humphries] is huge. This is one of four or five majors left on the calendar. Obviously I want to tick it off and obviously I really want to win it. Luke's been here and done it all before, so he knows how to win the Grand Prix final. But like I said, as long as I hit them doubles, I'll win."